Woman diagnoses her own ovarian cancer with Google search

Sadie Rance turns to internet search engine for answers after being told
stomach pains and constipation were due to Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Sadie Rance diagnosed her ovarian cancer herselfPhoto: Solent News

By Agency

8:35AM GMT 06 Feb 2015

A young woman with stomach pains who typed her symptoms into Google and found she had eight out of the nine signs of ovarian cancer was diagnosed with terminal cancer six months later - when doctors found she had a tumour the size of a melon.

University graduate Sadie Rance had been told her stomach pains and constipation were due to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) when she returned from travelling Australia with her boyfriend Jason.

But as the then 22-year-old's suffering worsened, she turned to the internet search engine for answers and discovered her symptoms coincided with nearly all the signs of ovarian cancer.

She requested more tests and, in September 2013, was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer and doctors found a tumour the size of a melon in her stomach.

Doctors could not operate because the tumour had attached itself to Sadie's internal organs and the advanced cancer had spread to her small bowel, liver, diaphragm, heart and lungs. Sadie has been told she has one to two years to live.

But she has responded well to chemotherapy, which successfully shrunk the tumour, and she is determined to remain positive.

Her bright outlook was given a boost by supermarket worker and cricket coach Jason, who proposed to her in June last year.

The pair married surrounded by friends and family the following month and are now enjoying making as many memories together as possible.

Sadie, from Bromley, Kent, said: "The trouble I had was that ovarian cancer is very rare in people under 50, and the type I have is even more rare, so I don't think it was ever even something that was considered.

"Still, when my problems seemed to get worse, I remember looking online and saw I had eight out of the nine symptoms of ovarian cancer.

"I asked my mum what she thought and, like any friend or mum would say to reassure you, she said 'Don't be silly, you don't have cancer.'

"But I knew my body and I could tell something wasn't right. I'm a very happy person and I'm determined to stay that way.

"Jason has been amazing throughout all this. When he proposed I burst into tears because I couldn't face leaving him behind.

"But the wedding was the best day of my life and he's helped me through so many struggles, including losing my hair. He would tell me my bald head was beautiful."

"When he proposed I burst into tears because I couldn't face leaving him behind" (Solent News)

Sadie first began suffering from stomach pains and constipation when she went travelling with her boyfriend, also 23.

They spent six months in the outback of Australia after graduating from University of Winchester, Hampshire, where they met and Sadie initially put the symptoms down to a change in her diet and new surroundings.

But her health continued to deteriorate, despite all her blood tests and scans coming back clear.

It was not until the couple returned to the UK in May 2013 that she went to see her GP - by which time she had not been to the toilet for five weeks.

Sadie was told it was IBS and prescribed laxatives, but this was just the start of four months of agony.

She returned to the surgery five times in four months as the pain became so unbearable she would double over in agony and could only stand for a few minutes.

Miss Rance said: "When my symptoms began in Australia, I put it down to the water or the change in diet. But it was getting worse and worse and I was feeling so awful. I had two ultra sounds and some blood tests, but nothing was picked up.

"Jason has been amazing throughout all this" (Solent News)

"By the time I flew home to the UK, I hadn't been to the toilet in five weeks. My mum said I looked really ill and took me to the doctors that day, but they just put me on laxatives.

"In the end I said to my GP: 'I'm not leaving here until you look at me and tell me I need to go to hospital'.

"I couldn't take any more, I felt horrific and I couldn't even go to the supermarket without needing to sit down after five minutes because I was in so much agony.

"I had really bad pain in my stomach and when the doctors finally said it could be ovarian or bowel cancer, I thought it all made sense.

"I should have said to my doctor 'I think this is what I've got, do something about it,' but there's no point on dwelling on what I could have done."

Her husband Jason, who now works one day a week at a supermarket and devotes the rest of his time to Sadie, has been by her side throughout.

"Sadie is quite simply the most amazing young lady I have ever met in my life," he said. "Through everything she has gone through, she never moans and always finds a positive no matter how bad things are.

"I'm the luckiest man in the world firstly to have met her but now being married to her means the world to me."

The couple have raised more than £35,000 for the gynaecological unit of the Royal Marsden and they are also raising money for Teens Unite Fighting Cancer.